10 Cool Cars for Graduating Seniors

College-bound rides that parents and kids can agree on.

With over 200 different cars for sale for the 2008 model year — not even counting crossovers, trucks and SUVs — the U.S. consumer has never had it so good. There are all sorts of body (coupes and convertibles, sedans and hatchbacks) and engine configurations (inline-4, V-6, V-8 and even W-12, to name but a few, sipping gasoline, diesel or functioning as gasoline/electric hybrids) to appeal to all ages, creeds and lifestyles.

So, with Spring quickly coming to a close, today we focus on a specific demographic — the soon-to-be-graduating senior class — and ten vehicles that would be an ideal mode of transport as they enter the "real world", and leaving the carefree cocoon of campus life to become working-class stiffs like the rest of us.

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Some on this list bowl us over with their outstanding handling (, ) and speed (Cobalt SS and, to a lesser degree, the ); with others it is their versatility (, , ), upscale features (), penny-pinching window stickers (, ) or a nice balance of performance and utility ().

Here, in no particular order, are the ten coolest cars that we think graduating seniors would love to have their parents hand the keys to right after they've collected their diploma or sheepskin...and that Mom and Dad would approve of.